Homeowners’ Exemption Pays You To Avoid Problems Later

If you found $70 cash under the sofa cushions in your living room, would you throw it away?

What if $70 magically appeared under the same sofa cushions every year? You’d probably think twice before giving away that sofa, no matter how much you wanted to redecorate.

Well, if you own your home and you haven’t applied for the Homeowners’ Exemption, you are throwing away $70 per year.

It doesn’t exactly appear under the sofa cushions (so you’re free to redecorate), but it does appear as an annual credit on your property tax bill. It’s almost magical, if not quite.

The Homeowners’ Exemption allows owner-occupants to receive a $7,000 reduction in the assessed value of their home. At a tax rate of 1%, this is $70 per year that comes off your property tax bill. It isn’t necessary to apply every year, just once. The $7,000 reduction is automatic for as long as you own your home and continue to live there.

The “magical sofa cushion” benefit isn’t the only reason to apply for the Homeowners’ Exemption. Ever since Proposition 19 passed in 2020, assessors use the Homeowners’ Exemption to identify who is living in the property. This is a key factor in determining eligibility for the transfer of base-year value to a new home and for the full or partial exclusion from reassessment when a parent-child transfer of a principal residence takes place.

Filing for the Homeowners’ Exemption now will prevent headaches later.

Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang said nearly one in three homeowners in L.A. County do not take advantage of the Homeowners’ Exemption, leaving $30 million in tax savings unclaimed every year. “Across the county, an additional 435,000 families can be saving on their tax bills,” he said.

It’s not complicated at all to apply for the Homeowners’ Exemption. It’s just a simple form that’s available from your county assessor’s office.

Call the phone number for the assessor’s office on your property tax bill, or look up the contact information at boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/countycontacts.htm.